Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of The Doris Day Collection Volume 2 for 10th April 2007. Doris Day, America’s sweetheart of the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s, returns with six more new-to-Region 1 DVD titles, focusing on Miss Day’s golden years at Warner Bros., where her film career began. The collection contains her blockbuster screen debut Romance on the High Seas, as well as such audience favorites as My Dream is Yours, I’ll See You in my Dreams, On Moonlight Bay, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, and Lucky Me – films which contain a treasure chest of musical standards that include “It Had to be You,” “Makin’ Whoopee,” “I’ll String Along With You,” “‘Ain’t we Got Fun” and dozens more.

All the DVDs have been meticulously remastered, using all new digital transfers and each release includes entertaining bonus features such as Oscar-nominated cartoons and vintage shorts. The gift set will be available for $59.92 SRP, and each title is also available separately for $19.97 SRP.

The Films

Romance on the High Seas (1948)
Doris Day’s film debut in this romantic musical was a lucky break, stepping into the lead role as a replacement when Betty Hutton withdrew due to pregnancy. The film’s composer Jule Styne (who collaborated with famed lyricist Sammy Cahn) heard Doris sing at a party, and immediately arranged for her to have a screen test at Warner Bros. for Director Michael Curtiz. The rest is history. Doris was immediately signed for a long-term contract. The film and the song she introduced in it, “It’s Magic,” became huge hits respectively, and immediately catapulted Doris Day to super-stardom as a recording artist and movie star.

The witty screenplay, written by Julius and Philip Epstein (Casablanca) features Doris as a little-known singer named Georgia Garrett. Georgia’s musical career may not be going anywhere, but she is -- on a cruise, sailing under the name Mrs. Elvira Kent while the real Elvira (Janis Paige-“Silk Stockings, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies”) secretly stays home to spy on her presumably philandering hubby (Don DeFore of the TV series “Hazel”). Meanwhile, the husband hires a private detective (Jack Carson) to snoop on his supposedly voyaging wife. Musical legend Oscar Levant also appears as Doris’s long-suffering friend and pianist.

The film’s screwball farce is enhanced with an enchanting array of songs by Styne and Cahn, and features musical numbers staged by the legendary Busby Berkeley…all in eye-popping Technicolor.

Features include:
Classic Warner Bros. musical short Let’s Sing a Song from the Movies
Classic Warner Bros. cartoon I Taw a Putty Tat
Theatrical trailer
Languages: English & French
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

My Dream is Yours (1949)
Director Michael Curtiz began planning Doris Day’s follow-up film, My Dream Is Yours, before Romance on the High Seas was released. That’s how sure both Curtiz and Warner Bros. were about their leading lady’s beckoning stardom. An updated remake of the 1934 Ginger Rogers/Dick Powell vehicle “Twenty Million Sweethearts,” My Dream is Yours re-teams Doris and Jack Carson in a clever story set against the backdrop of the radio industry at its zenith. Talent agent Doug Blake (Carson) is giving 100% to earn his 10%. He walks away from his arrogant singing star (Lee Bowman) and scrambles to discover another who will shine even brighter. He finds effervescent songstress Martha Gibson, played by Ms. Day. Legendary Warner Bros. composer Harry Warren (42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1933), returned to the studio for the first time in a decade to write the new songs for the film, along with famed lyricist Ralph Blane (Meet Me In St. Louis).

The film is best known for its guest appearance by another Warner Bros. legend, none other than Bugs Bunny, who shares the screen in a musical number with both Doris Day and Jack Carson, in a splendid mix of live action and animation, reminiscent of the famous Gene Kelly/Jerry the Mouse sequence created for Anchors Aweigh.

Features include:
Vintage Joe McDoakes comedy short So You Want to be an Actor
Oscar nominated Warner Bros. short The Grass is Always Greener
Classic Warner Bros. cartoon A Ham in a Role
Theatrical trailer

I’ll See You in My Dreams (1952)
Danny Thomas and Doris Day play famous songwriter Gus Kahn and his devoted wife Grace, in this affectionate musical, one of 1952’s top box-office hits. The title song, plus “It Had to be You,” “Makin Whoopee” and “Love Me or Leave Me” lead a 23-song cavalcade that propels this story of Kahn’s life from the day he walked into a music publishing house to public triumphs, private failures, career decline and comeback. Once again with Warner stalwart director Michael Curtiz at the helm, I’ll See You in My Dreams is a winning tribute to a talented man who put into song what lovers feel in their hearts.

On Moonlight Bay (1951)
In the tradition of Meet Me in St. Louis and Life with Father, this romantic comedy is a tuneful, romantic view of Midwestern life featuring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae. Based on Booth Tarkington’s Penrod stories, the story of a tomboy who suddenly wants to trade her pants for petticoats to impress the boy next door, is a classic slice of Americana. The supporting cast features Leon Ames and Rosemary De Camp as Father and Mother Wakefield and Billy Gray (TV’s “Father Knows Best”) as the bratty little brother. Filled with vintage songs of a by-gone period, On Moonlight Bay was one of the biggest box-office hits of its time, and also is one of Doris Day’s personal favorites among her vast filmography.

Features include:
Vintage Warner Bros. musical Short Let’s Sing a Song About the Moonlight
Classic Warner Bros. cartoon A Hound for Trouble
Theatrical trailer

By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953)
The huge popularity of On Moonlight Bay made the possibility of a sequel a natural, and this is in an era where sequels were a rarity. So the irresistible pair of young lovers Doris Day and Gordon MacRae return, along with Rosemary DeCamp, Mary Wickes and Billy Gray in this remembrance of World War I-era Americana. There’s a new array of nine nostalgic standards – and an addition of several lavish production numbers, but as with its prequel, the emphasis remains on the same homespun humor derived from Booth Tarkington’s Penrod stories, which made Silvery Moon another box-office winner from Warner Bros.

Features include:
Vintage Joe McDoakes comedy shorts:
So You Want to Learn to Dance
So You Want a Television Set
Oscar-nominated Warner Bros. cartoon From A to Z-Z-Z-Z
Theatrical trailer

Lucky Me (1954)
Struggling performer Candy Williams (Doris Day) finds many ways to ward off bad luck. Maybe that’s why the most lopsided, unlucky day of her life turns out to be the luckiest. Lucky Me reunites Day with Calamity Jane tunesmiths Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster with another delightful score. The DVD has been remastered in 16x9 Wide screen to take full advantage of the photography used by the then-new CinemaScope process, and also features a newly remastered soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1.

Features include:
Vintage Warner Bros. short When the Talkies Were Young
Oscar-nominated Warner Bros. cartoon Sandy Claws
Theatrical trailer